


Dumb Creatures

by flawedamythyst



Series: Winterhawk Tumblr ficlets [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 20:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15445092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: Animals love Bucky. So does Clint.





	Dumb Creatures

The police horse was gently nuzzling at the side of Bucky’s head while he stood firm, arms crossed, and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. Clint watched in fascination as the rider tried to pull its head away with the reins, but it just shook that off and went back to pressing close to Bucky.

“Dude, are you some kinda horse whisperer?” he asked.

“Shut up,” gritted out Bucky, clenching his jaw together tighter.

They were just meant to be looking pretty in the background while Steve gave a speech about the importance of good law enforcement and then handed out some medals. No one had factored in that apparently horses adored Bucky just as much as…well, as the next guy, given that in this situation, Clint was the next guy.

Not that he was going to be anywhere as obvious as the horse was, of course. He didn’t want to alienate a team-mate that badly. Two, if you considered how mad Steve would get if he thought Clint was taking advantage of his emotionally-vulnerable BFF.

The horse let out a gentle whickering sound and rested its chin on Bucky’s shoulder. “Maybe it’s your shampoo?” suggested Clint.

Bucky just sighed.

Two weeks later, Bucky chased a Doombot into an alleyway, then came out with a small, angry-looking cat gripping onto the shoulder of his body armour.

“What the fuck?” asked Clint, pausing mid-shot to stare at him.

“It got scared, and now it won’t leave me alone,” said Bucky, turning to shoot upwards at a Doombot swooping past. The cat swayed as he moved, but was clearly clinging on tightly and didn’t seem to have any interest in moving.

It stayed there until after the fight. Once the last Doombot had been blasted to pieces, Bucky holstered his guns, then carefully reached up to pry the cat from his shoulder. It snuggled into his arms and immediately started purring and, wow, there was no way Clint was going to be able to deal with this. The whole thing was just too adorable and, fuck, he wanted to be the one who got to rest his head smugly on Bucky’s chest to be petted.

A woman ventured out of a near-by apartment building to take the cat off Bucky, but the media had already snapped enough photos that Clint couldn’t avoid seeing them splashed everywhere for the next few days.

It was too much. He needed to get away and have some breathing space, or he’d never be able to shove this crush back where it came from. He made some vague excuse about Kate going out of town and not being able to look after Lucky, and headed over to his apartment in Bed-Stuy. He just needed a couple of days without Bucky around to suppress all his emotions until he could pretend they didn’t exist.

“It wouldn’t work anyway,” he told Lucky as they sprawled on the sofa together. “I mean, he’s all super-soldier perfection, and I’m just…well. you know. Me.”

Lucky butted his head against Clint’s stomach, demanding scritches that Clint was happy to give him.

“I’m happy being single, anyway,” he added, as if he were convincing anyone. “Relationships are too much hard work.”

There was a knock at that door and Lucky jumped up, then bounded over with more enthusiasm than Clint had seen him have for anything other than pizza.

Had Clint ordered pizza and then forgotten about it? It wouldn’t exactly be the first time.

It wasn’t pizza, it was Bucky. The moment Clint opened the door, Lucky was bouncing up at him with excitement.

“Oh, hey, hello, dog,” said Bucky, crouching to greet him and earning himself an enthusiastic lick.

Clint just stared. To his knowledge, Lucky had never met Bucky before, why the hell was he so excited?

“Does every animal think you hung the moon?” he asked.

Bucky looked up at him, still petting Lucky, and shrugged. “Guess they’re dumb enough not to know better,” he said, then stood back up. “Can I come in?”

Clint opened the door and waved him in, thinking that if he tried to shut him out right now, Lucky would never forgive him.

“Do you need something?” he asked once Bucky was inside, staring around at Clint’s apartment and apparently not noticing that Lucky had parked himself basically on his feet.

Bucky turned around to look at Clint and shrugged. “You took off kinda quickly, and no one seemed to know why, so I figured I’d come over and make sure you were okay.”

Aw man, no wonder all the animals just melted around him.

Clint sighed. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just needed to check on Lucky.”

Lucky stood up at the sound of his name and started wagging his tail as if to prove what a good boy he was.

“Okay, seriously, do you have pizza in your pocket or something?” asked Clint.

“I hope not,” said Bucky. “If I do, it’ll be because you put it there.”

Clint considered that. “Yeah, fair,” he agreed. “Hey, I was about to take him for a walk. Want to make his year and come with, as he seems to have decided you’re the best thing he’s ever seen?”

“Sure,” said Bucky.

They headed to the park, where Lucky frolicked around Bucky and generally acted like a puppy, especially when Bucky threw a ball for him, and Clint tried not to stare at his two favourite people with hearts in his eyes.

It got worse when the other dogs in the park caught on to the fact that Bucky was there, and all came over to sniff at him and beg for attention. A tiny Bichon Frise nearly went off its head with excitement when Bucky reached down to pat gingerly at its head.

“I’d ask if this is a super-soldier thing, but I’ve never seen it happen to Steve,” said Clint, “and I find it really hard to believe Hydra wanted their secret assassin to be surrounded with adoring animals.”

“Animals just like me,” shrugged Bucky. “Always have. We used to get strays turning up at our apartment all the time, back in the day. It drove Steve nuts.”

“Dude,” said Clint, slowly, staring at him. “You’re Snow White.”

“What?” said Bucky. “No, I’m not.”

“No, no, it fits,” said Clint, waving his arms. “Hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, got cursed by someone evil to a deathlike sleep in a glass box, and animals freaking love you. Plus, didn’t Steve used to be short enough to basically be a dwarf?”

“Never let Steve know you said that,” said Bucky.

Clint ignored him. “Except I guess Steve’s also the prince, because he woke you up from the evil sleep.”

Bucky snorted. “There’s no way I’d let that punk kiss me,” he said. “Besides, I like to think I woke myself up. Or, at least…” he sent Clint a hesitant, sideways look, “the first time I properly felt like myself was when a blond idiot made me laugh for the first time since Hydra took me. Guess we could say that was what woke me up.”

There was no way he was saying what Clint thought he was saying. Was he? Clint stared at Bucky for long enough for him to clear his throat and then drop to his knees to pet Lucky. Two cocker spaniels bounded up to also demand attention.

The tips of Bucky’s ears had gone red. Clint looked at them for a moment, and then at the way Bucky was sharing attention out between all three dogs, and just gave up on trying to contain his feelings.

“Making someone laugh isn’t exactly the same as kissing them,” he said. “Might not keep you awake in the same way.”

Bucky looked up at him. “Guess I should find someone to kiss, then,” he said slowly, as if just as wary of putting a foot wrong as Clint was.

Clint gave him a shrug. “I guess I’m closest, unless you think having the dogs slobber all over you counts.”

Bucky was on his feet in a second, taking one swift pace to stand right in front of Clint, taking his head in his hands. “Are you sure? You know I’m still kinda messed up, not exactly prime boyfriend material.”

“Guess I’m too dumb to know any better,” said Clint, and kissed him.


End file.
